Archive for July, 2012

There is a good chance you found out about my blog due to the trick shot videos I made during the year that I was redshirting. You can imagine my reaction when I found out that the trick shot legends from Dude Perfect were going to be shooting a video on campus at the Olympic Training Center.

My friend Dom, who is interning in the broadcast department, and I were on location for the shoot and were responsible for putting together the behind the scenes video on the TeamUSA channel. Here is the video we put together followed by the official video by the Dude Perfect guys. Look for a cameo or two by yours truly.

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There are 25 or so other interns here at the USOC this summer and some of us decided to make a weekend trip to Denver.

Rockies-Phillies: It was a cool experience to see fellow Milton Eagle Dexter Fowler playing center field for the Rockies. He’s been in the majors since ’08 but this was my first time seeing him in person. He actually played basketball up until his senior year of high school. When he stopped playing basketball at the start of his Sr. year of high school, I was a freshman and eagerly took the open roster spot.

I stayed the night in Denver and Sunday morning drove 15 miles west to a mythical place I’d only heard about.

O.A.R. at Red Rocks: O.A.R. was the first real concert I ever saw and last night was the 13th time I’ve seen the band live. It was a big night because we were at the historic Red Rocks Amphitheater, the show was being broadcast live on TV, and the band was recording their own version for a DVD and CD release. But what made it more special was the fact that I was given backstage passes and got to talk with the band before the show. Surprisingly, the guys seemed pretty nervous about the show. They’ve played at Red Rocks 5+ times but the live broadcast and DVD recording was getting to them.

The concert was amazing. The band played for a little over 2 hours. For the first song of the encore, the lead singer and guitarist came up to a mini stage by the soundboard just above our seats. I’m looking forward to seeing the show on DVD because it is hard to appreciate everything going on when you’re in that venue. Everywhere you look you have breathtaking views and the sound is amazing.

Here are some pictures from the show:

With Hunter Kemper (4-time Olympian) and Jerry Depizzo (Sax player)

With lead singer Marc Roberge

With Chris Culos (drums) and Richard On (Guitar)

Marc and Richard playing 'I Feel Home' from above the soundboard

The crowd

View from the top of the venue

View from the bottom of the venue

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Wow. The first 6 weeks of my internship with the United States Olympic Committee have flown by. Its been extra busy here with the London 2012 games rapidly approaching but that means I’ve been able to work on some really cool projects. For those of you that have been asking about my summer, here are some of the things I’ve been doing:

Instagram: I made it a priority to help Team USA launch its Instagram account from Day 1. We launched it a week after I got here and, as of right now, we have 6300+ followers. You can check out the account here.

YouTube: The USOC launched its YouTube Channel right when I arrived. I’ve been able to help out by occasionally uploading or tagging content we post. One of my favorite parts of my job is related to YouTube; whenever producers come on campus to shoot videos with Olympians, I get to escort the production crews. I’ve met some great people who have put together some great videos. I was on set for the filming of this video of Jordan Burroughs, a wrestler who has a great shot at winning the gold medal in London:

TeamUSA.org: My department is responsible for Team USA’s website. My fellow intern, Sarah Higgins (also a blogger), and I have been posting a good percentage of the content that goes up on the site. We receive the content from the writers and make sure it looks good when it gets up on the site. A major undertaking has been Athlete Biographies. Every time an athlete qualifies, one of us adds him/her to the list of qualifiers. We are constantly working on the bios adding photos and updating the text. I do the photos, Sarah does the text. I’d say that the coolest part of my job was creating the bio for UGA’s Shannon Vreeland who will be representing the USA in swimming.

Last night, there was a sendoff for the USA Boxing team. They’ve been training on campus for the last week and a half or so. I’ve gotten to know a couple of them from some video shoots we’ve done. They have some really amazing stories and I can’t wait to cheer for them when they compete in London.

I have a busy weekend planned. This afternoon a bunch of the interns here are heading to Coor’s Field to watch a fellow Milton graduate, Dexter Fowler, play for the Rockies. We’re staying in Denver overnight and then heading to the O.A.R. concert at Red Rocks tomorrow night.